Modus Operandi
by AnHeiressofaSOLDIER
Summary: A short SoKai AU that I started a long time ago, but will never finish it. I'm only uploading it now for the last day of SoKai Week.


**Modus Operandi**

A seventeen-year-old teenager, with chestnut quills for hair, stood uncertainly in front of the corporation that had just bought his place of employment.

Sora, as so he was named… had never liked the overbearing sprinkling of blue in "Green Trees" of all places, and so he didn't enjoy his current job as much as he did the other modus operandi he had (and the new owners probably wouldn't make it any better either, he mused).

Smiling slightly, for his wit in stealing college terms he'd learned from Noel, and using them in ways most people wouldn't dream of, Sora found that maybe his day wouldn't be so bad, after all.

"And this is how ya imitate singing without really being able to sing," Sora muttered to the small, dark skinned boy—Dajh—in front of him, as he came out of his reverie.

You see? Sora had always found old, winding cameras to be the lazy man's way of signing or playing an instrument. Most likely the latter, he knew—as they made a lot of key like sounds that someone could pass off as an instrument. Especially if one factored in the releasing sound the camera made when it's button was being pressed down.

The sound that the machine made then… it was very magical to Sora for some reason.

Although! He wouldn't have minded the old-fashioned smoke kind of camera, either! Sora thought, as he took in the building's various wares greedily.

In fact, that sort of camera could definitely have been considered as an instigator for a singer, Sora thought with a small laugh; it always made the photographer scream in a high note, after all: either for the picture taking too easily, the smoke in the air or both.

"Hey, Sora, you do know that you're touching the wind up thing again, right? You're so weird. I know that's what you specialize in here, but-"

Sora gave Dajh a look—for commenting on his weirdness so tactlessly—but then focused on the new entrepreneurs who had passed him without even a word.

Putting his hands on his hips whilst shaking his head, Sora couldn't help but think the whole thing unfair. He had seniority at this store! Shouldn't he have been able to choose when they came to view his work ethic?

But nope. No dice. They'd just seen him goofing off with Dajh—never mind the fact that no one was in line where he was at _to_ attend to, since the customers were distracted by all the things going on—and they'd probably just fire him. He sighed.

"What's that over there?" Sora asked Dajh—mainly to distract himself from his disappointment, as he pointed to his right: where the front of the store was located.

Cocking his head to the side—as he took in what looked like a giant set of binoculars: and odd decoration, to be sure—he found himself wondering if the strange device actually worked.

If they did, he couldn't wait to go over there and try them out! …And maybe even sit atop it: something he was sure Riku would get a kick out of if he were here, since he thought his brunet friend was a major fatty.

"Hey, Dajh," Sora said suddenly, as he noticed that Dajh was climbing under the register—where he'd been standing beside Sora just a moment ago—and was now going out to meet the throng of people. "What are you doing? Didn't you hear my questio-Hey!"

Okay, so Sora normally was okay with—heck, even loved the fact!—that the kid he babysat was small enough to crawl under counters, so that he could come talk to him whenever, but… Now really was not the time. And he knew if he didn't abandon his post to stop Dajh, he'd be hearing about it from Sazh later.

"You know, Sora," Dajh said—as he gave up on his hopeless trek, and just decided to sit on Sora's register and look at him dead in the eye: "Most kids would probably be interested about what's going on here. And if they were uncool, like you were, they'd usually just let their wingman check it out for them, but you won't let me do that. What gives?

Though on the inside, Sora was mentally cursing his stupidity for ever letting Dajh come to work with him on a day like this when, on the outside he remained a vision of calmness and serenity—as he remembered that Dajh looked up to him as a mentor.

Still… he could have done less with the boy's 'tude. He'd have to make sure that Dajh didn't watch another zombie movie, or something, the next time he watched him: apparently that was a bad influence on the boy. Sora was about to tell Dajh just that, but in that exact moment, the small boy said four words that would end up changing Sora's life forever: "There's a princess coming."

At first, Sora's first instinct was to laugh at yet another ridiculous story of Dajh's; Sora was certain that Dajh was going to be an author when he grew up, since he loved to make up stories at random intervals.

However, when Dajh just continued to look at Sora with brown eyes far too serious for that of an eight-year-old, Sora was forced to realize he was most likely telling the truth.

Then, as Dajh smiled way too sweetly for someone who was probably all ready planning how he'd get Sora over there, so that he could make a fool of himself, he pointed to the back of the store.

Turning about where he stood (and nearly falling completely over in the process), the Green Trees employee got his first look at _her_.

Long auburn hair fell to the mysterious girl's waist; she had eyes the color of periwinkle, and was the most aristocratic and well-figured (though still normal looking) girl Sora had ever seen. Her candy pink lips didn't move even the slightest bit… and somehow, Sora got the notion that they never would. His breath hitched.

Laughing despite himself—to starve off the awkwardness that was igniting within him, as he wondered what could make such a person seem so tragic—Sora remarked stupidly, "Pfft, she can't be a princess, Dajh! Don't you know that it was written long ago that royals can only wear violet? Jeez."

Yeah, okay. By the blank look Dajh was giving him, Sora was sure he'd probably just made that up without realizing it: something he oftentimes did when he was bored or unsure about things. However, there were still times where the photographer ended up reciting facts he'd remembered subconsciously.

There was no denying now, though, that his words were a complete lie; the princess was, after all, walking in front of a massive, fur coated banner that was the same color as her hair and overcoat. That could only have meant one thing.

"So, wait, then," Sora muttered to himself much more than to Dajh, as he stumbled upon something he probably should have guessed all along.

"Is her family the one that bought this store, then? If so… I probably made an idiot of myself in front of the monarchy today. Oops," Sora continued to sprout nonsense, as he unconsciously reached out towards the princess, but only to lose his footing and to almost head-desk his counter.

And he noticed, then, that he was at the very edge of his cashier booth: as close to the girl as he could get without leaving his post. And it was almost like... like he needed to be by her side or something.

But… such a thought was stupid and impossible, Sora knew, and he was probably just interested in her pretty face, her story, and the interesting distraction she'd provide from his daily life, right?

Watching curiously, as hundreds upon hundreds of people circled around the mysterious girl (and it was just then Sora understood why there had had a surplus of people at the store that day), Sora suddenly felt an uncharacteristic hate growing from him for the girl.

Maybe… maybe he was just annoyed that he'd have to work while everyone else would get to see her at her conference? Or maybe he just didn't like her color palette, as it spoke of fire, blood, and other bad things?

But in any case: the moment Sora saw her looking over the cameras in the aisles that he himself had just been playing with, he knew he had to leave.

"Sora?" Said the confused, sad voice of Dajh: the only thing that could have pulled the brunet back to the surface in that moment.

Sora frowned, deciding to look anywhere else but at Dajh. It was bad enough that he'd just decided to hate another human being for no reason whatsoever, after all, and he couldn't risk Dajh thinking his irritated look was meant for him. "Sorry, Dajh. I gotta go. I'm just… being a really bad employee today, I feel. It'd probably just be better if Noel came in and covered for me.

"Anyway… I'm gonna go home. If my boss wants to fire me... tell him, or her, I guess, she can, but that I went home sick. See ya later, 'kay?"

And so it was that Sora left the sweet little Dajh feeling bewildered, and turned away from the strange violet gaze boring into his back.

Somehow… Sora thought his future self would regret every decision he'd made in this moment, but the fact that his usual modus operandi had changed so drastically shook him to the very core, and he knew he had to leave.

And so he did.

**Author's Note: The start of a story that I wrote a LONG time ago. In fact, I think it was the first SoKai AU that I ever truly tried to write, so for that reason it's very fitting for today. LOL.**

**But don't expect me to ever finish this, most likely. Like I said, I wrote this many moons ago, and totally forget where I planned to go with the story: even if normal employee, Sora—who cutely loves cameras and thinks they can be treated like instruments and stuff—is adorable to me. **

**I also liked that he babysat Dajh here, how he hated that a place called "Green Trees" was painted blue, and his meeting with Kairi, of course, but still: I'll probably never continue this. Sorry:(**

**But here's hoping some of you enjoyed some of this anyway. It was interesting for me to open this story and find where my mind was a few years ago: I'll tell you that much.**

**Thanks for reading and all the support!**

**-Shanna**

**P.S. Sorry for any mistakes. Like I said: I wrote this a long time ago, and my writing was different back then, and while I did edit this some… I really don't care enough about it anymore to make sure it's absolutely perfect. Sorry.**

**P.P.S. I just remembered that I named the store here after one of the fist fanfictions I ever read, which… I didn't even like, but it's still stuck with me for some reason.**

**Here's what happened in it (and I should probably mention that this was written right after KHII came out): In the fic, Riku and Kairi were dating, because apparently Riku asked her out just because he knew Sora liked her and he wanted to beat him to the punch… Which made Sora never talk to the two of them again, and somewhere along the lines, Riku thought he had feelings for Sora and began fantasizing about him (and I won't get into that)… Only for Riku and Kairi to run into Sora at where he worked, for Sora to call Kairi a bitch, and for Riku to beat Sora up for insulting his girl. The story ended there. **

**Yeah… Do I really need to explain why I didn't like that fic? Everyone's so OOC in it. And yet… for some reason I still remember reading it nine years later. I have no idea why.**


End file.
